1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a carrier of the type which is designed to be worn by a person while seated, standing, walking or marching to provide support and facilitate the play of a percussion instrument or instruments such as drums or the like. More particularly the present invention relates to such a carrier embodying a construction and relationship of parts to distribute reaction forces to the weight of a percussion instrument about the shoulders, thoracic region about the back and abdominal area of a person to prevent fatigue, stress and strain normally encountered by a percussionist while performing as part of a marching unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is known in the art, a carrier for a percussion instrument generally takes the form of a frame-like structure that is suspended from the shoulders of a person by hooks or straps. The hooks engage with a T-shaped breastplate with a central leg extending to a riser attached to a belly plate. A carrier frame projects from the belly plate and any one of various forms of extension bars may be attached to the carrier frame for engaging the instrument or instruments. It is a common practice to use such a carrier to support one or more of a variety of instruments that notably consist of one or more percussion instruments. The instrument may comprise drums, marching bells, a xylophone, a vibraphone, a marimba, a timpani, chimes or the like. An example of such carrier is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,106,123.
Instead of hook members to engage the shoulders, a shoulder harness made up of straps that pass over the shoulders of a person, crossing in the back and passing forwardly below the arms at the sides of the person, can be used to support a drum which is also connected to a belly plate by other straps. Examples of this type of carrier are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,021,744 and 3,974,732. Another form of an instrument carrier is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,007 and comprises a rigid metal rod with bent portions forming a pair of spaced-apart loops for engaging the shoulder blades of a marcher and a cooperating integral bent portion adapted to contact the back of the marcher to suspend the carrier from the player's torso. A pair of arm members projects from the frame at the back of a person forwardly to support the percussion instrument. A releasable belt is coupled between the opposite sides of the frame to secure the carrier to the marcher.
Because of the fact that percussion instruments must be carried at an outwardly-extended position from the marcher's body, the shoulders and the lower back of the person carrying the instrument are particularly vulnerable to fatigue. The stress and strain due to the overhung load can be detrimental to the person carrying the instrument. In recent times, the number, weight and types of instruments that are carried have increased. For example, four and sometimes six drums are carried by an individual. Other instruments which are supported by carriers which hang on the marcher's body includes bells, a xylophone or a marimba, vibraphone, timpani and/or chimes which may have a weight of up to and sometimes exceeding 70 pounds. Sometimes an instrument or a group of instruments weighing more than 70 pounds must be carried. The weight of an instrument is applied to a marcher as a torque about the belly plate and forms a moment arm defined by shoulder straps or hooks. The marcher, almost inherently, shifts his or her lower torso forwardly as an offsetting measure to sustain the load produced by the overhanging weight. This causes fatigue in the lower lumbar region which the carrier of the present invention is designed to at least substantially eliminate.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,453,442 and 4,605,144 there is disclosed a support for a percussion instrument in which a carrier frame was adapted to be worn by a percussionist by providing a rigid band that was attached to an abdominal plate and partly encircled the waistline of a percussionist to a point where there is provided an upwardly angled arm used to support a pressure pad for engaging the thoracic region at the back of the percussionist. This construction was advantageous because part of the weight to be sustained by the percussionist while playing the instrument appeared as a reaction force applied to the thoracic region of the back. The abdominal plate in one instance was used to additionally support a breast plate from which there extended shoulder hooks that passed from the front of the percussionist over the shoulders and terminated a short distance along the percussionist's back above the thoracic region of the back. The shoulder hooks were part of a rigidly bolted together structure including the abdominal plate and pressure pad to provide that the pad engaged the thoracic region of the back. This construction precluded distribution of forces between the thoracic region forces and abdominal region because of the rigidity of the structure and the inability to automatically position these parts relative to one another during movements by the percussionist. In another aspect of my earlier carrier design a cross bar extended from the rigid support for the pad at the thoracic region of the back. The cross-bar provided support areas for straps that could extend over the shoulders of the percussionist and engage with the abdominal plate. Because the pad could not assume a different angular relation with the abdominal plate in response to the movement of the percussionist, the loading on the body parts of the percussionist varied greatly depending on the position of the percussionist at any given time.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved carrier for a percussion instrument to alleviate the shortcomings and disadvantages of prior art carriers as discussed above hereinbefore.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an improved carrier to be worn by a person for supporting a percussion instrument or the like wherein an abdominal plate and back pressure plate are connected together in a pivotal relationship to establish a uniform load bearing contact between the face surface area of the back plate and the thoracic region of the back through the use of the abdominal plate as a fulcrum for the load applied to the percussionist by the percussion instrument and including the carrier.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an improved carrier to be worn by a person for supporting a percussion instrument or the like wherein an abdominal plate, thoracic pressure plate and shoulder bars are connected together in a pivotal relationship to establish and control the distribution of forces on the percussionist's body without a concentration of forces at any one support site.